"They say humans are social animals, they can't live alone. But you can live pretty well by yourself. I tell ya...instead of feeling alone in a group, It's better to have real solitude all by yourself."

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Faye was born on Earth and spent 54 years in a coma under cryogenic sleep. Given the evidence from "Session 18: Speak Like a Child", whereby video footage of Faye's past is viewed by the crew members, a specific shot of the Merlion (a statue and iconic image) seems to suggest that she lived in Singapore during her life on Earth. She awoke with an extremely large hospital debt due to her time in cryogenic sleep, that causes her to lie, cheat and steal her way in a world that was largely unfamiliar to her. When she's not chasing bounties with the crew, she often gambles away her share of the bounty.

Faye Valentine awoke from a 54-year coma after being injured in a Space Shuttle accident when she was 20 in the year 2014. Because technology wasn't advanced enough to save her at the time, doctors put Faye into cyrogenic sleep until her injuries were finally healed 54 years later. Faye awoke with retrograde amnesia, not able to remember anything from her past. Because of the Gate Accident, all of her personal records were lost to the lab, with the only remaining information being her first name. Upon waking, she fell in love with a con artist, pretending to be an advocate for her about her debt, who faked his own death and left her with his own insurmountable debt, which she unknowingly agreed to inherit.

As a fugitive she was cornered by henchmen for a casino owner named Gordon. She was brought before him in handcuffs and allowed to pay off her debts by working at a Blackjack table during an illegal smuggling operation. Without much choice Faye accepts the mission.

When Spike Spiegel comes to her blackjack table, she mistakes him for the contact who is supposed to give her a special poker chip after losing all of his money. After cheating him out of his money, she is unable to get his last poker chip and when the henchmen try capture Spike, he starts a brawl. In the scuffle Faye escapes to her Red Tail and tries to run away. Unfortunately for her, Spike and Jet Black stop her and, after learning of the bounty on Faye, handcuff her to the Bebop's toilet.

She tries to make them release her and claims that she is a "Romani," a gypsy who cannot be kept locked up, and that the wilds were calling her. They reveal how much her bounty is worth, 6 million Woolong, but she apparently thinks that's not enough money for her.

Locked in the bathroom she manages to contact Gordon using a device built into her lipstick. With a hairpin she is able to escape her handcuffs and fly off in her Red Tail while Spike and Jet are confronted by Gordon's ship. But she is able to swing back around and grab a suitcase full of money with her Red Tail's pincers after Gordon and Spike's hand-off goes awry.

Escaping through space in her Red Tail, Faye runs out of fuel and drifts hungrily until she reaches a derelict spacecraft. Upon further examination she finds a person dying inside a protective life support pod. The man tells her to deliver a briefcase to the ISSP, which she takes but still cannot go anywhere without fuel.

She is eventually picked up by the Bebop and handcuffed once again. They take the device she found in the briefcase and Spike shoots it with his gun in boredom, but secures the vial kept in the center and slips it in Twinkle Maria Murdock's pocket when they are forced to release her--the other bounty head on board.

Later, when Spike and Jet are preoccupied with the eco-terrorists, Faye slips out of her handcuffs and uses them to tie up Ein. She escapes in her Red Tail after stealing fuel, and ends up helping the Bebop crew chase after the Space Warriors in exchange for part of the bounty. They manage to stop the terrorists' plan to release a virus upon the people of Ganymede, but they are unable to collect the bounty when the terrorists are locked in hyperspace along with the virus that turns them into apes.

Back on the Bebop after the mission she simply helps herself to their shower when she decides to become a bounty hunter like them.

Faye is considered an attractive woman by many of the men she encounters through the series. In the Cowboy Bebop manga, while describing a wanted serial killer they are hunting, she states that she fits his preferences as an "Asian Beauty" with "straight black hair". The tape from her past also suggests she was from Singapore, where black hair is a common physical trait.

Her outfit, consisting of shorts, white boots, nude thigh high stockings, a skimpy undershirt with an overcoat worn loosely, and her short hairstyle, gives the impression that she is an aged homage to the young character of Mathilda from the movie The Professional (known as Leon: the Professional in UK). Just like Mathilda she has been dealt an unfair hand by the world and is now street-smart and tough because of this. The evidence as well for such a homage can be deepened by the fact that Faye was born in the year 1994, the same year Leon: The Professional was released.

The beta tape found in Session 18, Speak Like a Child, suggests that Faye has changed a lot from the innocent girl she used to be. As someone who constantly lives in an environment where she must seize every opportunity to find some money, dressing in the way she does makes people pay more attention to her and also distracts them long enough for her to take advantage of them. We see her do this in many instances throughout Cowboy Bebop but the first is her first appearance, in Session 3, Honky Tonk Women.

As Spike said in Session 9, Faye is a woman with an attitude. She maintains a tough exterior because of the people she often associates with both in bounty hunting and her former life as a confidence woman and scam artist. When she is after a bounty head Faye often acts cocky and overconfident (Session 9, 14, and 22).

She puts herself into situations where men lust after her (Sessions 8, 12) however as evidenced by Session 12, Jupiter Jazz Part 1 she may get a thrill out of being desired. There are only few instances (Session 15) when Faye has shown an interest of love in a man. Also, she could be using the desire she inspires in men to take advantage of them for money, food, and other necessities that she does not have the ability to provide for herself, partly because of her huge debt.

There are times when Faye can be soft-spoken, sentimental and vulnerable. When Faye originally came out of her cryogenic sleep, she had anxiety about her future but did not respond with anger or violence. She did, however, attempt to run away from her problems which has become a common solution for her when life seems difficult.

During Real Folk Blues: Part 2, Faye returns to the Bebop. As Spike leaves to face his destiny with Vicious, Faye, on the brink of tears, points her gun at Spike and demands to know why he is throwing his life away. She insists he does not leave them (her and Jet), because they care about him. After Spike explains why he is leaving, she frustratedly fires her gun at the ceiling knowing that she will likely never see Spike again. While Spike is flying towards certain death, Faye cries to herself.

The Red Tail is a Personal MONO Transport owned and flown by Faye. Its weaponry, which may surpass the standard features of a MONO Transport, includes Dual Turret-Mounted Machine Guns, a Heat Seeking Missile Launcher, an Autocannon and External Pinchers for grappling other ships and items in space.
Several additional features of the Red Tail include Remote Auto-pilot, Anti-Missile Devices, Enhanced Agility, and the ability to take-off and land in a vertical position.